A new messaging app “Signal” is on the rise with increasing numbers rapidly.
WhatsApp and Facebook have ruled your phones and the market for so many years now. Probably soon a decade. But now developers are coming with innovative ideas and also people are realizing the importance of privacy and safety on such messaging apps.
WhatsApp has a brand new competitor in the market. The name is Signal. The signal is an emerging messaging app. The signal is coming up with features that WhatsApp has not even started testing.
WhatsApp is trying to improve its desktop app and Signal on the other hand are already bringing in video and voice calls from their desktop app. WhatsApp has that functionality on WhatsApp web but not on the WhatsApp desktop app.
The biggest concern is privacy and security of course. Signal has been seen as the best, secure messenger for anyone concerned about interception, metadata, or tracking.
One thing Signal is lacking for now is group video calls. They are soon going to do a meeting of beta testers, which means they have the idea almost ready.
When asked to Zak Doffmann, he has his own ideology. He says WhatsApp is miles ahead of Signal. Well, indeed it is. Signal just has 10million downloads whereas WhatsApp has a base of 2billion. No competition there.
Even though WhatsApp lacks two or three features like video calling and stuff. They have a backup option. Backup is one of the most important aspects of any app. If you wish to switch your phone, you must be able to start on your new device from where you left on your old one.
Signal has no support for backup. You buy a new device. You lose all your chat history. That is a huge advantage for WhatsApp.
Let alone WhatsApp, Signal needs to catch Telegram first. Because Telegram is currently the closest to WhatsApp and maybe soon they would end up overtaking WhatsApp.
Encryption is the least safe in WhatsApp among the three because WhatsApp does enable chat and media backups, these are currently stored in Apple or Google’s cloud with no end-to-end encryption. That means users lose the protection that has become WhatsApp’s primary calling card when they back up.
If Signal rises exponentially, The group video call on the desktop app may possess some danger to Zoom who is currently in lead in providing video calling services across the globe.
Another feature Signal is working on is the Message requests. It will allow users to have control of who can message them on the platform from outside their device’s contacts.
All these new and unique features are cool but unless and until they don’t come with a backup option I guess they will never catch the likes of Telegram and WhatsApp.